{"id":44957,"date":"2016-08-03T07:21:45","date_gmt":"2016-08-03T11:21:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=44957"},"modified":"2016-08-03T07:22:10","modified_gmt":"2016-08-03T11:22:10","slug":"clintons-criminal-negligence-hurts-more-than-the-election","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=44957","title":{"rendered":"Clinton\u2019s Criminal Negligence Hurts More Than the Election"},"content":{"rendered":"

Loose Lips Sink Ships: Clinton\u2019s Criminal Negligence Hurts More Than the Election<\/h1>\n

‘Hillary defense’ enables national security offenders<\/h2>\n
By Austin Bay<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\n
\"ATLANTIC<\/div>\n

Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. (Photo: Jessica Kourkounis\/Getty Images)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

World War II\u2019s sobering rhyme \u201cLoose Lips Sink Ships\u201d reminded America that failure to protect national security secrets exacted a harsh price in blood. Even minimal negligence\u2014much less the gross negligence exhibited by Hillary Clinton\u2014could provide an enemy enough information to damage the U.S. and allied war effort and kill American servicemen and women.<\/p>\n

The laws protecting national security are a fortification of sorts\u2014a legal fortification that contributes to national security. Americans entrusted with security clearances and tasked with handling classified information must make every effort to avoid negligence. The laws help insure constant awareness. They promote self-discipline and institutional obedience.<\/p>\n

Hillary Clinton\u2019s criminal \u201cnegligence\u201d followed by James Comey\u2019s sellout of the rule of law is breaching the legal fortification. This report from McClatchyDC.com<\/span>, \u201cClinton email decision seen as lifeline<\/a> for those facing similar charges,\u201d\u00a0comes as no surprise:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe FBI recommendation not to prosecute Hillary Clinton and her staff on charges of mishandling classified information will give those accused of flouting national security rules a new line of defense even as it highlights a dual standard in how senior government officials are treated, several experts saidWednesday.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cFlouting.\u201d An apt word.<\/p>\n

Here is another indicative quote:<\/p>\n

\u201cI intend to use the Hillary defense,\u201d said Sean M. Bigley, a lawyer whose firm handles dozens of cases a year involving national security clearances. \u201cI really question how any agency can say someone is a security risk if the president of the United States did something similar.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Bigley\u00a0added, \u201cWe\u2019ve had people lose 20-year careers for doing less than what she did.\u201d<\/p>\n

The McClatchy report then goes into \u201cLoose Lips\u201d damage territory, adding \u201cNational security lawyers\u2026 said the recommendation on Clinton\u2019s email use was likely to affect far more than the election, including possibly the behavior of those with security clearances.\u201d<\/p>\n

Note the quote by Mark Riley, a former military intelligence officer who is now an attorney specializing in defending national security violations. \u201cA lot of people will think, \u2018She\u2019s getting away with it. I\u2019ll chance it,\u2019\u201d Riley said. \u201cWe\u2019re going to have more problems.\u201d<\/p>\n

Our legal fortifications defending classified information matter. Comey acknowledged that American adversaries could have hacked Hillary\u2019s private server. If so, the possibility that she is open to blackmail<\/a>\u00a0cannot be dismissed. It must be seriously considered.<\/p>\n

In mid-June I wrote an essay that argued, if Hillary walked<\/a>,\u00a0our security agencies would eventually confront morale issues. Since the laws are part of the defense system, failure to punish her behavior would inflict institutional damage and subsequently erode professional morale.<\/p>\n

Speaker of the House Paul Ryan has asked<\/a>\u00a0James Clapper, Director of National Intelligence, \u201cto deny presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton access to classified information.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a letter to Clapper, Ryan gave this as the reason for his request: \u201cI firmly believe this is necessary to reassure the public that our nation\u2019s secrets are secure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though he will be blistered as partisan by pro-Clinton media operatives, Mr. Ryan\u2019s request is an attempt minimize the extent of the institutional damage by making certain Clinton clearly pays an administrative penalty.<\/p>\n

As I read it, Ryan wants Clapper to suspend Hillary\u2019s security clearance for the duration of the election. Based on her actions as described in Comey\u2019s July 5 press statement, Clinton should have already lost her clearance.\u2014and\u00a0should never be granted a clearance again. So, how could she serve as president? Well, she shouldn\u2019t serve as president. If the laws were applied equally, she\u2019d be serving time.<\/p>\n

Austin Bay is a contributing editor at StrategyPage.com<\/span> and adjunct professor at the University of Texas in Austin. His most recent book is a biography of Kemal Ataturk (Macmillan 2011). Mr. Bay is a retired US Army Reserve colonel and Iraq veteran. He has a PhD in Comparative Literature from Columbia University.<\/em><\/p>\n

___
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Loose Lips Sink Ships: Clinton\u2019s Criminal Negligence Hurts More Than the Election ‘Hillary defense’ enables national security offenders By Austin Bay<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44957","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44957","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=44957"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44957\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=44957"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=44957"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=44957"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}